Black Sunrise
by Crimson Dawnbreak
Summary: It's been years since Sam has had reason for interactions with them, but now, with ghost knights appearing outside of the corrupted zones, and Herobrine preparing an attack on the mortal world, Sam has to hope the Black Halo will find her again, before the ghost knights do. rated M for blood, gore and language.
1. Chapter 1

The first thing Sam registered was the lack of noise.

Normally, Weeping Gorge would be alight with the colorful sounds of merchants peddling their wares, children playing, and the sounds of the towns many blacksmiths working the iron that was as abundant in these hills as grass.

But today there was silence.

Pausing only to grab a pork chop, Sam touched on something an old friend had told her once: always be prepared. Sam planned to follow this, and in doing so she slid a knife down her leather boot. Stepping outside, several things became apparent to Sam. The first was the large group of town people clustered around the well. The second was the midnight black throwing dagger pinning a piece of paper to her wall. Sam paled. She hadn't seen a dagger like that since…but no. it mustn't do for the townspeople to see this. It would only inspire fear. Yanking the dagger out of the heavy wooden door, Sam pocketed it, and caught the piece of paper before it could hit the ground, and tucked it into her pocket. Right now, it was time to see to the crowd.

Walking quickly, Sam shoved through the crowd. When she got to the clearing, however, she gasped.

Hunched at the foot of the well was a ghost knight.

He was a monster, just nigh of eight feet tall, and with a wicked looking weapon clutched in his hands made from a sharpened blaze rod, he looked nothing short of demonic. For the second time today, Sam paled. She had seen what these freaks could do to flesh and bone, even without their weapons of fire and steel, and she wasn't eager to see it repeated. The real thing that troubled Sam however was that this brute didn't seem to have a good reason for dying, slumped against this well. Then the truth hit her.

The ghost knight didn't seem dead because he wasn't.

Like the lava surges so common in this brute's homeland, the ghost knight moved with terrifying speed, surging upward and towards a cowering woman, abandoned by the rush of people moving away from the ghost knight. All except Sam. Spinning on her heel, she withdrew the dagger from her pocket, gripped it firmly, and drove it straight through the ghost knight's helmet into the back of his head, killing him instantly, all in one fluid motion. She helped the woman, Sarah, to her feet, and looked around to the villagers. "I can explain. But I don't have time, so I'm going to leave you guessing. Goodbye."

Sam returned to her small cottage near the Weeping Gorge itself, to pack her things. She knew what something like this meant. For a start, ghost knights can only tunnel up from the Nether in corrupted zones, nearest to the frozen chaos catalyst. If they were suddenly becoming able to burrow up anywhere, that was bad news. And secondly, she knew VeloDrax wouldn't let a ghost knight retain his life somewhere he could hurt people unless he had more pressing matters. And if there were more pressing matters, then they must be big.

Sam started by packing the usual's, supplies and clothes and so on.

Then, she got to the unorthodox.

She carefully folded up a chainmail shirt, and tucked it into her rucksack next to a collection of small lightsteel throwing knives, and a collapsible axe. Removing her cloak from a hook, Sam drew it around her shoulders, and shouldered her rucksack. She took a moment before leaving to look around the small cottage. Her expression softened. Perhaps she would return here...if she survived.

Crimson Reporting! So people, how do you like the first chapter? I AM taking OC's for the Black Halo members later in the story, and as always reviews are appreciated. If you wish to submit an OC, then please leave a comment or PM detailing their name, race, gender, weapon preference, and of course a description of their appearance. See y'all later, Crimson out!

-Crimson Dawnbreak


	2. Chapter 2

Growling in frustration, Sam swung a fist into the hard wood of the map board.

It didn't help, but it made her feel better.

She had been traveling for a little over a week now, and still, no sign of a pilot willing to take her where she needed to go. And sadly, she was running out of places to search. She'd hit every airbase, high-altitude docking tower and rural farm skypier she had encountered, all with no luck. It seemed that nobody in Alteaum, south of the Lithean border fort, was tough enough to get her where she needed to go, and there was simply no way that Sam was going to get there in time for whatever operation Drax was planning. The note she had found had not been very helpful either:

Dearest Samantha,

It has come to our attention that the deity Herobrine has been unusually active. Sightings include mentions of dark figures outside towns, Ghost Knights, and of course, the odd missing village.

Anyway, it is of the utmost concern to us that Herobrine must not encounter any of our members, former or present, as he would undoubtedly weasel information out of them, regarding the Halo's operations, and that would be very bad to say the least.

As you probably have guessed, a general recalling of all past agents has been put into effect, thus rendering you back onto active duty, effective immediately.

Have a nice day, and happy hunting.

-Velodrax Fomorian, Black Halo,

Squad three, "ontos" commander.

Sam gritted her teeth. She hated being called by her full name, and Drax knew it. But now was not the time for pettiness, because Drax had done nothing less than confirm her worst fears. The last time Herobrine had been "unusually active" had been when he killed everything on the surface of the planet, and attempted to store their souls in the sun. The only reason anyone knew of this was the lone scratched message on the cave wall. Setting off again, Sam continued down the road, towards the small town she had been travelling for all night. Cresting a hill, Sam finally got her first good, long look at the place she was heading for, having previously snatched only glimpses of the church steeple, and the ambient light a town of its size gave off. Wow, thought Sam to herself, this might be a nice place to come back to later.

Then the fireball bloomed in the sky.

Sam tumbled down the hill, automatically rolling behind a bush, in case one of the people on the airship decided to train cannon on her. Peeking out from behind her cover, Sam attempted to size up what the hell was actually going on. "Oh, no," Sam murmured to herself, and she wasn't just saying that. Over the small town, there floated a dreadnaught sky flier airship, with its cannons blazing upon the townspeople. Of course, Sam did the only natural thing. She charged down into the town.

Sliding down the scree slope, Sam vaulted over a low fence, and took cover behind a rock. "Dammit!" she said, as she had neglected to bring a bow or a rifle, weapons of range. The best she could do at present was perhaps try to end one of the cannoneers with a throwing knife, but that would do little in the long run, Sam thought. She needed to find a gun. However, a gun does no good if it is in the hands of a corpse, and as an old friend had once told Sam; "if they can't hit you, they can't hit you." Following the instruction in the phrase, Sam swiftly dove through a smashed window, narrowly avoiding the pieces of glass still clinging to the window frame. She rolled to absorb her momentum, came back on her feet, and found herself face-to-face with a pirate.

So, to whoever is reading this sorry little fanfic series, I hope this latest installment satisfied your questionably-existing thirst for more of this story! If it didn't, well, that's great too. Leave me a comment detailing what I could do better, anything you might like to see added to the plot, and when I can stop pretending this is popular! Yaaaay!

-Crimson Dawnbreak


End file.
